Melanie Ries (TÜV SUD): “Keeping a brand strong requires continuous care, strategic clarity and the courage to enforce rights"

Leaders League:  In your view, what distinguishes the role of in-house counsel at a group like TÜV SÜD?
Melanie Ries: In-house counsel in a technology driven organization must go far beyond pure risk-avoidance. The role is to act as a strategic partner – enabling innovation while safeguarding the core values of the organization. At TÜV SÜD, this means balancing technological progress with independence, safety and credibility. Legal advice must be pragmatic, forward-looking and closely aligned with the business.

TÜV is one of the best-known brands in the German-speaking world, yet it does not belong to any single company. What makes this model unique?
The TÜV brand is unique because it represents a shared heritage and common values, while being used by seven independent organizations, which are competitors, even. As far as I am aware, this model is unique and combines strong collective recognition of the brand with a joint commitment to protecting trust in the TÜV brand. The TÜV brand embodies safety, trust and neutrality. It is a powerful example of how trust can be institutionalized across organizational boundaries.

With more than 1,600 trademark registrations TÜV worldwide, what are the key challenges in terms of protection and enforcement?
The main challenges are complexity and prioritization. Managing a global trademark portfolio requires constant monitoring, strategic decision-making and efficient enforcement mechanisms – especially in digital environments where misuse can occur rapidly and across borders. When enforcing our trademark rights, there are certain special considerations to bear in mind: it may be that a third party infringes TÜV SÜD’s trademark rights, but is a customer of other TÜV companies. In such cases, the TÜV Trademark Association provides excellent support and coordination.

How do you address misuse or misleading use of the TÜV trademark at a global level?
We have to distinguish between the trademark TÜV and the trademark TÜV SÜD. Through clear brand rules, close cooperation and a shared understanding of what the TÜV brand stands for. Legal instruments are important, but equally crucial is ongoing dialogue between the stakeholders. Consistency does not mean uniformity - it means alignment around common values. We combine classic enforcement tools with proactive monitoring and digital solutions. Early detection is key, as is a clear enforcement strategy that balances legal rigor with proportionality and reputational considerations. We must bear in mind the special circumstance that, in the event of a trademark infringement, there may be potential customer relationships with other members of the TÜV Trademark Association.


At TÜV SÜD, protecting the TÜV trademark globally is a shared responsibility across Legal, Brand, and our technical experts. We take a multi‑layered approach to ensure the integrity of our mark. First, we continuously monitor the market and use the necessary legal instruments whenever required. At the same time, education plays a crucial role: we invest heavily in raising awareness among our employees about why the TÜV SÜD brand is such a valuable asset and how each of us contributes to safeguarding it. Internally, we regularly run awareness initiatives and provide clear guidelines.

In what ways does trademark law help safeguard values such as neutrality, safety and technical excellence?
Trademark law protects not only a name or logo, but the reputation and expectations associated with it. Effective trademark protection ensures that these values are not undermined by misleading or unauthorized use. For this reason, we at TÜV SÜD work daily to ensure that the values of our brand are not violated by third parties. Keeping a brand strong requires continuous care, strategic clarity and the courage to enforce rights consistently.

What, currently, are the key legal challenges related to AI at TÜV SÜD?
Key challenges include regulatory compliance, liability, transparency and data governance. For an organization like TÜV SÜD, which operates in trust‑based markets, it is particularly important that AI systems are reliable, explainable and aligned with regulatory expectations. I believe we were one of the first companies in Germany to draw up internal AI guidelines and I am really proud to have taken part in drafting them.

Sophie Stevenard